Live Comedy L.A.

Comedian Mitch Mullany passed away last week according to several blog posts on Myspace by L.A.-area comedians, and confirmed by Variety. Apparently, Mitch died of complications due to diabetes.

I saw Mitch a few times and he was terrific. My group of friends still reference his jokes regularly:

“Hush your bottom.”

“Faster…harder…bigger. What?”

“Fuck me daddy…fuck me daddy…fuck me Dad.”

Thanks for the laughs that will last forever. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

No Name Comics is one of a handful of stand-up comedy rooms in Los Angeles I feel comfortable recommending every week. At quick glance, tonight’s line-up looks solid. I haven’t seen all the performers, but I know Matty “Ballgame” Balaker will be doing his thing. Hopefully, you’ll get a chance to see the set he wants to perform on Ferguson…it’s tight. Brian Keith Etheridge will also be in the house and a guy named Tom Clark who is supposed to be hilarious…but I have not see him. So if you have an easy going Sunday and don’t feel like spending a ton of dough but still want to go out, I always recommend No Name Comics. Info below:

No NaMe CoMiCs @ROOM 5
143 LA BREA 2ND FLOOR (JUST SOUTH OF BEVERLY)
HOLLYWOOD 90036
SUNDAY MAY 25 @7PM
NO COVER - FULL BAR - DINNER AVAILABLE

Chris Franjola will make another appearance on the E! Channel’s Chelsea Lately starring Chelsea Handler. Franjola performs stand-up comedy in L.A. regularly. He’s hilarious - we’ve written about him almost as much as we’ve written about Ryan Sickler (stop your man crush jokes ASAP).

If I had to name a “Top 5 to 7 Stand-Up Comedians Who Have the Potential To Make It on a Sitcom”…Franjola is right there. So if for some reason that burger from your Memorial Day BBQ isn’t sitting right…or you just don’t feel like watching Leno or Letterman and want to check out some L.A. Comedians on T.V….and you’re up…check out Franjola.

Day: Monday, May 26, 2008
Show Time: 11:30pm on E!

I can’t believe I haven’t posted Ari Shaffir’s latest commercial. Ari is a great L.A.-based comedian and part of Joe Rogan’s “Death Squad”…along with Joey Diaz. If you check out Ari’s Youtube page…it looks like he’s been in quite a few commercials. Love that. Check the commercial.

Ari Shaffir in Bud Light Commercial

Our girl Christina Paz just had a 3 minute vignette on Last Comic Standing from the Tempe audition. My questions - did her agent get her placement on the show, how did she get such a long segment, and will America be able to spell her last name? CP is too good to have waited in line with everyone else.  The segment was cool…she did an excellent job. Who knew she went to law school for two weeks…then dropped out.

Other L.A. comedians included Josh McDermitt (who was excellent as always), Adam Hunter,  Bobby Miyamoto,  and Rob Little - to be honest…it seemed like all the comedians from the LCS Tempe audition were from L.A.  So if you liked any of them…you can probably see them live any night of the week here.  We’ll keep you in the loop.

CP didn’t make the cut…which is mind boggling.  And neither did Josh McDermitt.  Adam Hunter did make it…so good luck to him.

Andrew Norelli was just spotted as one of the 10 comedians in the Honda Sweepstakes Online Voting competition taking place in conjunction with Last Comic Standing. He is not on LCS…it’s more like a promotional tie-in that Honda is doing with the show. Here’s the point…get online now and go vote for Norelli. He’s an L.A. comedian and one of the the most underrated comedians in the country. Go here.

Los Angeles comedian, Jeff Short, is starring in the new Sharp Aquos commercial. Jeff joins Dwayne Perkins as recent L.A. comedians who have represented big brands on the small screen. Keep an eye out for the commercial on cable stations everywhere…and if you happen to catch it on network TV…shoot Jeff a note and tell him congrats…because that means big bucks.

As you can see…Live Comedy L.A. is and will be undergoing some change. I have recently taken the blog off of Wordpress.com and put it on a hosted server. I will still be using the Wordpress software to publish but it is going to take me a little time to get everything designed properly. Moving to a hosted service will allow for more design and content flexibility. Since I’m not a website expert (it took me a few hours to figure out what the “root directory” was and how to put together a “MySQL Database”)…it’s going to take me a bit to get things nailed down…but rest assure I will…and this site will be better than ever.

So if you can handle the remodeling…I will promise to continue to deliver info about the great live comedy in our city. Pretty soon…you will see a web site that will go beyond anything that you have see that is dedicated to informing you about live comedy in Los Angeles and nation wide. We will be creating a platform for the great performers across the country that keep us laughing every night of the week. Thanks for your patience. Support Live Comedy! Go Laugh!

Time:
Friday, May 16th, 2008 @ approx. 8:20pm

Place:
Hollywood Improv

Situation
Todd Glass is 3 minutes into his set when a gentleman in the front row (seated alone) reaches for his cell phone to respond to view and respond to a text message. Glass tells him very directly to put his phone away. The gentleman motions for Glass to hold on a moment. Glass forcefully grabs the cell phone out of the gentleman’s hands and puts the cell phone on the piano on stage and makes fun of the gentleman for 2 minutes.

Question
Did Todd Glass go too far?

My Opinion
First things first…if I was the dude, I would have been on stage beating Todd Glass in the head with the mic. But that’s me…you may have reacted differently.

Let’s make one thing clear, it’s rude to send text messages while a comedian is on stage (especially in the front row). It’s just rude! Repeated text messaging is grounds for a comedian to go after an audience member - verbally. Furthermore, when an audience member ignores a request from the comedian to put away the phone, he deserves to be verbally annihilated by the comedian. This guy may have been a monster d-bag for ignoring Todd Glass…but for Glass to forcefully take the cell phone out of his hand…is ridiculous. Who the hell is Todd Glass?

Maybe this guy has a pregnant wife at home who he’s waiting to hear from…maybe he’s a doctor…or maybe he’s just a dick. It really doesn’t matter. The fact of the matter is…this guy paid to be there…and Glass needs to remember that. If you are a comedian, use your verbal skills. Don’t pull some garbage like this. I like Todd Glass…he makes me laugh. But I think this was piss poor.

Katt Williams adds a second show at the Gibson Amphitheatre on June 27th. Presale starts May 8th at 10am. Use your Citi Visa Card. If there happens to be a place for a password, try - “band”.

Click here for tickets on Ticketmaster